James May has said his tweet about Pride flags in London has been misinterpreted.
Earlier this week, The Grand Tour presenter posted on X (once Twitter) that he “admired” the Pride movement, but that rows of LGBTQ+ flags in central London “may be seen as authoritarian.”
“Please remember that some terrible things, with which you would not wish to be allied, began with TMB [Too Much Bunting]. World War Two, for example,” he wrote.
May was quickly accused of comparing the Pride movement to the Nazis, leading to him posting a series of replies rejecting the suggestion. “No dog whistling intended, and my stance on homophobia was, I hope, clear from the post,” he told one user.
A day later, May issued a clarification. “I’ve had an illuminating 24 hours reading the responses to my ‘bunting’ post,” he said.
“I’m not suggesting that the Pride movement has anything in common with the Nazis.” He added: “My post is not intended for use as a community launch pad for sorties into lazy homophobia.”
May has recently finished voiceover work for the final episode of The Grand Tour, the Amazon Prime Video series he presents with Jeremy Clarson and Richard Hammond. He said the episode will stream in September.
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